Pernod Ricard says 45,000 Malibu bottles have been produced including an entirely app-less technology called Near Field Communication (NFC) to deliver content directly to a smartphone, and this represent the largest global deployment ever of NFC on an alcohol product brand.

The ‘connected’ technology requires users to tap their NFC-enabled android phone onto the bottle’s Malibu sunset image to access content and prize draws instantly.

The initiative is said to follow work undertaken at Malibu’s innovation lab in Stockholm to create a ‘connected’ bottles showcase, which has led to the world’s very first pilot of its kind, to be trialled in the UK this month.

Malibu global VP for marketing, Colin Kavanagh said: “This is a huge world-first for Malibu and the wider alcohol sector, and reinforces our commitment to pushing the boundaries for Malibu in the digital arena. We are very excited that Malibu is the first spirits brand to bring this innovative technology to the forefront of the industry, and we look forward to rolling out the concept around the world.

The ‘connected’ bottles are said to be now in-store in the UK, exclusively at Tesco. All bottles will have an accompanying neck-tag to provide the consumer with a clear explanation of the technology.